Rules question - girth covers

[Beam_Me_Up]

I’m sorry for asking a rules question - I can’t find much mention of girths outside of the USEF dressage requirements to have one, and not to tie your stirrups to it.

Are there rules about girth covers/fleece covers in dressage? At home I put halter fleece on my saddle’s billets (that 4" between the saddle flap and the girth tends to rub during shedding time) which I’m guessing is not legal, though the rules don’t mention billets. If girth covers are allowed, I could try using a longer one that would cover that whole area.

Does anyone know if there is a rule that discusses any of this? Thanks!

[Lusoluv]

I’ll admit I don’t know the rule, but I used a short navy girth cover on one side to cover my billets when my horse had a rub. Also used a long brown girth cover on my jump saddle for the same reason. This was at 2 different HTs and no one said anything to me about it. It didn’t dawn on me it would be an issue, and luckily it wasn’t.

[ake987]

That’s so clever to use halter fleeces! I also could not find anything about girths or girth covers in the rules. If you’re going to use them in competition I would email USEF with a photo and get a response that says it’s legal, and have that email (or even a printed copy to keep in your trailer) ready at events if anyone questions it since it is unusual.

Have you tried a longer girth? My saddle fitter told me there shouldn’t be much exposed billet touching their sides. The fleece of my girth meets the bottom of my saddle pad, so there’s no billet touching skin. Just a thought!

[Beam_Me_Up]

Thank you both!

That’s a good idea about asking USEF. I’ll report back.

I understand the rules can’t provide for every weird way we might want to rig up our tack, but I was hoping there was something about girths/covers that might be a starting point.

I agree on the possibility of a long girth - I’ve heard those tend to rub less, though neither saddle (dressage: point billet, jump: monoflap) easily lends itself. The backstory is that this horse had terrible hives last fall, lost much of his coat on his sides. A couple weeks later his winter coat started to come in, and he seemed better all winter until he started to really shed out a couple weeks ago. If it doesn’t fully come in soon, I’ll need to re-evaluate the saddle/riding situation in a bigger way.

[Beam_Me_Up]

In case anyone is wondering, here is the response from USEF

Either option should be permitted. We don’t have any specific rules covering girth covers so as long as the cover doesn’t change the function of the piece of tack (which most covers shouldn’t) they would be permitted.

Either option referring to either halter fleeces on the billets or a long girth cover on a short girth.